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Is water wet?
Executive summary
The question "Is water wet?" has no single answer in current reporting because definitions vary: mainstream dictionaries define "wet" as "covered or soaked with liquid" (Merriam‑Webster, Dictionary.com, Britannica) which implies wetness describes something a liquid acts upon [1] [2] [3]. Scientific and popular-science pieces emphasize two competing framings — wetness as a property of a liquid sticking to a solid (so water makes things wet but isn't itself wet) or wetness as a macroscopic sensation/state that could be applied to water — and reporters note the debate persists [4] [5] [6].
1. Dictionary grounds: wet usually describes something covered in liquid
Standard lexicons define "wet" primarily as "consisting of, containing, covered with, or soaked with liquid" (Merriam‑Webster) and "moistened, covered, or soaked with water or some other liquid" (Dictionary.com), with Britannica offering "covered or soaked with water or another liquid" — definitions that frame wetness as a condition of a surface or object being coated by liquid [1] [2] [3]. Under these dictionary senses, the word typically applies to solids that have liquid on them rather than to the bulk liquid itself [1] [2] [3].
2. The scientists’ framing: wetness as an interaction between liquid and solid
Science-focused reports explain wetness in terms of adhesion, cohesion, and contact angle — essentially a property of how a liquid interacts with a solid surface. BBC Science Focus and UCSB Science Line summarize that wetting describes a liquid’s tendency to stick to a solid (adhesive forces) versus sticking to itself (cohesive forces); by that account, "liquid water is not itself wet, but can make other solid materials wet" [4] [5]. This technical framing underlies statements that water causes wetness rather than being wet as a material property [4] [5].
3. The other side: water can be described as wet under alternative definitions
Several pieces argue water can be called wet depending on how you define the term. BBC Science Focus explicitly notes that depending on the definition of wetness, "water could be described as wet but it can also cause wetness without being classed as wet itself" [4]. Popular explanations point out that if you define "wet" simply as "containing or consisting of liquid" or as a sensory experience, then the bulk of water might be called wet [1] [7] [6].
4. Molecules, semantics and the "water wets itself" claim
Some commentary invokes molecular attraction to support saying water "wets itself": close hydrogen-bonding and polarity mean water molecules adhere to one another, and authors have used that as a reason to claim water is wet [7]. However, the scientific reporting that frames wetness as adhesion to a solid presents a direct counterargument: wetting is a measure of how a liquid sticks to a solid rather than how its molecules interact with one another [5] [4].
5. Context matters — everyday language vs. technical usage
In casual speech people often call water "wet" because it's what produces a wet sensation and covers surfaces; in technical contexts (materials science, surface chemistry, petroleum industry glossaries) "wet" and "wetting" are precise terms about liquid–solid interfaces and contact angles, and those usages typically exclude calling the bulk liquid itself "wet" [4] [8]. ZME Science and other explainers stress that whether water is "wet" depends on whether you mean sensory/state language or interfacial physics [6].
6. Why the debate persists and what each camp wants
Part of the dispute is rhetorical: people favor the definition that supports their intuition (water feels wet) or their technical training (wetness requires a solid surface). Dictionaries provide fuel to both sides because they list senses that can be read either way [1] [2]. Commentators advocating one side sometimes emphasize simple definitions to win the argument, while scientific sources emphasize measurable criteria (adhesion/cohesion) to avoid ambiguity [4] [5].
7. Bottom line for readers
If you use "wet" in everyday speech to mean "causes the sensation or condition of being soaked," then calling water "wet" is defensible [1] [6]. If you use a technical definition from surface chemistry — where wetting describes how a liquid adheres to a solid — then water itself is not "wet" but is the agent that makes solids wet [4] [5]. Available sources do not present an authoritative single‑sentence adjudication that ends the debate; they instead document the competing definitions and the contexts in which each is used [4] [5].
Limitations: this summary uses dictionary entries, science explainers, and opinion pieces available in the supplied set; it does not attempt to adjudicate philosophical senses beyond reporting how different communities use "wet" [1] [4] [5].